Sunday, March 25, 2007

Hong Kong: small circle election

Well, the election for the post of Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region took place this morning.

It was all over by 11am, what with there being only 800 eligible electors, the 'small circle'. Keith Bradsher of the New York Times nailed the class position and political sympathies of the broad majority of that small circle of electors:

With strong backing from Beijing’s leaders, Mr. Tsang’s re-election was never in doubt. The electors are mainly wealthy businesspeople and politicians with close ties to the mainland.Many of them arrived at the election site, a convention center next to the city’s outlying airport, in their chauffeured Rolls-Royces, Mercedes, BMWs and even a Porsche.While most of Hong Kong’s people did not have a say in the outcome, the election still caught the public’s attention. Hong Kong held its first two election debates pitting a leader of the territory against an opponent actively promoting democracy. The campaign grew sufficiently contentious that mainland authorities temporarily blocked signals from CNN even when Mr. Tsang articulated his position on eventual democracy here.People in neighboring Guangdong province can receive television signals from Hong Kong, and have expressed envy to Hong Kong television crews over this territory’s limited liberties.